Day in The Life of an Apprentice at UCL, During Ramadan - Aymen Belkacemi
(3 min read)
Aymen is a DBA apprentice at UCL.
3:30am: Well my day starts quite early. It’s around 3:30am and I am up to consume my first and only meal of the day, well until 8:30pm that is! I am having 3 dates, which are known to boost concentration, as well as a cup of milk, and a bottle of water. This, along with my belief and religion of Islam, will keep me going until Maghrib salah, the fourth daily obligatory prayer of the day. And with that, I pray Fajr, the first obligatory prayer of the day, and off to bed I go to get some rest in before the working day commences in merely a few hours from now.
8:00am: My day has well and truly started! I’ve just woken up, and after getting dressed in the proper attire for work, I am ready to tackle the day, head on! I leave the house at around 8:20am, and reach the tube station at 8:30am, in good time to catch the 8:32am Northern Line Train to Battersea Power Station, Via Charing Cross.
9:00am: I arrive at work at around 8:55 am, which is just in time for me to get settled in and get into the zone for the workday ahead. I always check my inbox first thing, to see if I have had any emails come in that I have missed. Once that is out of the way, I get on with any tasks which need my attention, and refer to my checklist, which I follow and update day to day, and whenever I have any new tasks or have completed tasks.
1:00pm: Fast-forward to 1 pm, and it's officially lunchtime, well I have time, but it’s not for lunch! Off I go to offer Duhr Salah, which is the second obligatory prayer of the day. After that, I seek the solitude of going to rest for a short while and contemplating all of the blessings which Allah SWT has blessed me with. And with that, it’s back to work for me.
5:00pm: And after a few tasks, and a catchup session with my line manager, work is done for the day! But by no means is my day done, in fact, it’s just getting started. I head off to the tube station, where I take the 5:03pm Northern Line train to High Barnet, making sure to alight at Finchley Central. The journey time is around 20 minutes. Once I arrive, I catch a bus to the local masjid, in order to get settled in for the night of worship and prayer ahead. I arrive at around 5:45pm, and have a little rest before the third obligatory prayer of the day, Asr.
7:00pm: After offering my Asr salah in congregation, I stay to listen attentively to a talk afterwards, before helping to set up Iftar, the meal that follows the breaking of the fast. I also take this opportunity afforded to myself, to capture live, in-the-moment footage of the setting up process, to boost the digital presence of the masjid. After all that is done, - setting up the plates, food and mats, it’s time to sit and focus on making dua and asking Allah SWT for our sustenance, as Muslims believe Allah SWT is the provider of all worldly things, and verily, we should turn to him for assistance.
8:25pm: It’s officially time to break my fast, and preludes the fourth obligatory salah of the day, Maghrib salah. Once that is done, it’s time to clean up and prepare the masjid for Ishaa salah, the fifth and last obligatory salah of the day, as well as Tawareeh prayers, which is an optional prayer, only offered in Ramadan. And with that, it’s time to get my head down and busy myself in Ibada (worship).
11:15pm: I have just completed Ishaa salah and Tawareeh prayers in congregation.
I hope this has given everyone a perspective and informative insight into a fasting person’s day, and secondly a day of an apprentice. My aim is to have educated everyone, in terms of all readers picking up at least one new piece of knowledge. Now, if a Muslim colleague comes to you requesting time off for Eid, do the good thing and accept that motion without any hesitation. They deserve it!!
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